


Breathable Yoga Barbie

by brokenpromisesandhope



Series: Reddie Kid AU [2]
Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Daddy!Eddie, Daddy!Richie, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Stay at home parent, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:48:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23787358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenpromisesandhope/pseuds/brokenpromisesandhope
Summary: Gemma has been feeling some big emotions lately.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Reddie Kid AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713724
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Breathable Yoga Barbie

**Author's Note:**

> This is set right after the previous fic, though they're not necessarily connected.   
> xx  
> T

Richie’s a good parent, a good dad. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t need a little extra help sometimes. Lately, Gemma has been having these massive temper tantrums. And not ones she’d ever had before. He can usually get her to talk about her feelings afterwards at least, but lately she’s been cooped up in the house, having her meltdowns and acting out. 

It’s not the most appropriate time to be ordering things, he knows, but after the fifth blog post he reads about mindfulness and meditation and child yoga and Breathable Yoga Barbie, he gets to work. 

He orders a sparkly pink child size yoga mat, one for him, two tote bags and two yoga blocks. He orders a few dvds of child guided meditation and last but not least, the Barbie doll. 

He speaks to Eddie about his plan, and Eddie agrees he’ll watch the boys outside while Gemma and Richie talk. Gemmas sitting at the kitchen table where she’d been sent for time out after calling Liam a baby. Her pigtails are falling slightly and her little face is red and tear stained. 

“So Gemma, why are you in time out?”

“I called Liam a baby, Daddy.”

“Good job. And why was that not okay?”

“Because I was being a meanie, Daddy.” 

Richie nods,  
“Thank you Gemma. We just need to remember to treat others nicely, and they will treat us nicely. Right?”

“Right Daddy!”

“So you’ve been having a hard time talking to daddy and papa lately, huh?”

“I don’t know.”

“Have you been feeling a lot of things lately?” 

She nods, eyes wide.

“Like what?”

She shrugs, 

“I don’t know. It just hurts in my tummy and my head and my heart. And my eyes feel like I wanna cry and my heart feels like I wanna be mean!” 

She starts crying and Richie walks over and pulls her into his arms, 

“It’s okay my angel. I love you, everything’s going to be okay. It’s all part of growing up.”

“Well I don’t wanna be growed up!” She wails.

“Sweetie, it’s okay. No need to cry, daddy’s here. It’s okay. Here, I got you something.” 

She looks in fascination as he holds out Breathable Yoga Barbie. She stares. 

“Daddy.” 

“Yes angel?”

“We’ve talked about this. I have a lot of barbies that look like me! I need one that looks like my friend Raven!” 

Richie stares, 

“Well, yes, but this one is,” 

“Daddy! I want the black one!” 

Richie tries to hand her the Barbie again. And she shakes her head, 

“This one doesn’t even have curly hair like Raven. You know I want curly hair daddy.” 

“I know.” 

“Then get me the black one.” 

“Gemma, I’m not liking the sound of your tone.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Can I have the other one please? It’s so much cooler than mine. Daddy, did you know brown skin looks like chocolate? I wish I looked like chocolate. I just look like a splotchy marshmallow. See, I turn red when you poke me. Raven never turns red.”

“Of course you can have the other one. Yes, dark skin is very beautiful isn’t it?”

“The beautifulist! Can I go apologize to Liam Daddy? I wanna play Frozen. I’ll let him be Anna this time!” 

“Yeah that’s fine honey, get your shoes on first.” 

So a few days later, a new black Barbie named Nova is joining their family. Richie shows her the different weather moods and explains how they relate to emotions we may feel inside. For example, when little rain cloud is sad, it may start to rain. When Gemma is sad, she may start to cry, and so on. 

The little short meditations the Barbie does, go great. But getting Gemma to actually sit and do yoga is a mess. Eddie incorporates more stretches into exercise time but even though she loves her mat, she won’t sit. 

It takes a few weeks and a $35 Barbie yoga mat, hand made by some woman Etsy, to get her to sit through a ten minute, dance yoga video. 

Richie’s so happy that they sit on the couch and watch Frozen two and eat a whole pint of ice cream together. He loves being a Dad. 

It’s not perfect but sometimes Gemma says how she feels. If she’s really upset she’ll go and grab the cloud toy that she feels like. Sometimes she’ll even request doing yoga, so long as Nova joins. 

“You’re a good daddy,” Eddie says one night as he rolls out his own yoga mat. Richie blushes.


End file.
